Introduction

The Korea Culture Research Institute was established in May of 1958 to contribute to the development of Korean culture by presenting the academic research results from home and abroad, on fields covering humanities, society, and the arts. The institute’s functions were complemented in 2001 with the increase in financial and human assistance for the concentrated training on Korean studies. As a result, it ranked first place in the school’s evaluations of on campus research institutes in the humane studies sector in 2003, 2007 and 2010 owing to its management system and research performance. The institute was selected in September of 2003 for Ewha’s ‘Framework Project for the Specialization of Korean Studies’ until August of 2006. The second phase of the specialization project · ‘Globalization Project of Korean Studies / Korean Cultural Education’ - was launched in March 2007 to be carried on until February 2010.
Also, from March 2010 to February 2011 started the second phase of the Framework Project for the Specialization of Korean Studies, which is to photoprint, annotate, and translate the collection of historical documents and ethical textbooks possessed by Ewha Womans University Library , continuing from the first phase, which was the annotation of the ancient books. The ‘Borderless Humane Studies Research Team’, a consortium of the Ewha Humanities Institute and the Korea Culture Research Institute, was selected in November of 2007 for the Humanities Korea Project by the Korea Research Foundation. The research team received 1.5 billion won annually for 10 years (15 billion won in total) and conducted research and projects to apply the results on "The Establishment and Expansion of Borderless Humane Studies." The ‘Borderless Humane Studies Research Team’ is made up of the globalization, gender, and multimedia divisions. Researchers of the globalization division, who are affiliated with the Korea Culture Research Institute, are conducting research through close cooperation with members of the Ewha Humanities Institute.
The Korea Culture Research Institute has published the research results on Korean Studies from Ewha and other universities, including the Korean Culture Series, Ewha Research Series, U.S. Armed Forces Research Series, List of Records on Folk Customs, Research on the History of the Korean Empire, Research on the 20th century Korean Society, Academic History Series, Ewha's Korea Studies Series for Globalization etc.
The academic journal Nonchong was published from 1959 to 1995 and efforts to publish a sequel to reflect the research performance of the institute resulted in the biannual Korea Culture Studies, founded in 2001. The list and theses contents may be viewed from the Korea Culture Research Institute website.(http://kcri.ewha.ac.kr)
Along with Korea Culture Studies, the institute currently publishes the Ewha Research Series containing the doctoral theses of its researchers, the Harvard-Ewha Series on Korea, an English academic journal co-published with Harvard University’s Korea Institute, the Ewha Korea Culture Research Series featuring the research results of the Korea Research Foundation, the Ewha Korean Studies Series on the school’s specialization project of Korean studies, etc. The Korea Culture Research Institute oversees various academic projects including science councils, scientific lectures and symposiums, to contribute to active research in Korean studies. It is currently supervising the "Korean Studies Forum" for the sharing of research performances of prominent scholars, the "Lecture by Visiting Foreign Scholars" for the collection of foreign research results on Korean studies, the "Science Council" which will combine the research results of scholars at home and abroad, etc. Apart from these academic presentations, the institute is also involved in the academic business of planning and publishing the Academic History Series which reviews the trends of Korean studies following Korea's Liberation according to each field. It also has been leading support programs to strengthen the network between the researchers at Ewha and other universities. The Korea Culture Research Institute also contributes towards securing an academic framework by proposing various research topics and promoting programs that support related researchers. The ‘Globalization Project of Korean Studies / Korean Cultural Education’ is currently underway as Ewha’s Specialization Project for Korean Studies. The institute is also involved in off-campus research including "The Collection & Translation of the Materials on the History of Women's Daily life in the 19th· the early years of the 20th century," "The Compilation of a Reference Book for Appreciating Korean Classical Novels," "The Intellectual Genealogy of Korean Social Sciences and A Plan to develop Korean Theory of Social Sciences: from Acceptance to Development" (sponsored by the National Research Foundation of Korean ), etc. There are 20 full-time researchers as well as part-time researchers who are actively involved in these academic, research, and publishing divisions. Please refer to the Korea Culture Research Institute's website for detailed information.